Saturday 9 May 1998

STEFAN RAAB

Born: October 20th, 1966, Cologne (West Germany)
Nationality: German

In due course, the short impression below will be replaced with a more extensive career overview


BIOGRAPHY

After an unfinished bar study at university, Stefan Raab started working as a freelance composer of radio commercials in 1990. In the 1990s, he became a television personality, hosting the show Vivasion on nationwide music channel VIVA. Simultaneously, he began composing and producing songs, mainly novelty records. Since 1999, he has been the presenter of TV Total, a late night show which has been broadcast by ProSieben four times a week since 2001. In 2005, intending to create a better version of the Eurovision Song Contest, Raab initiated the Bundesvision Contest, with songs from all sixteen states of Germany.

EUROVISION SONG CONTEST

Stefan Raab is the only Eurovision conductor in the history of the contest not to have conducted one single note: being the composer of the 1998 German entry, Guildo Horn’s comedy effort ‘Guildo hat Euch lieb!’, he insisted on taking the conductor’s bow, although all music came from a pre-recorded track. Guildo Horn finished eighth. Two years later, Raab participated again, this time as the singer of his own creation ‘Wadde hadde dudde da?’, which came fifth. 

In 2004, he composed the best of his three Eurovision songs, the laid-back ‘Can’t Wait Until Tonight’; performed by Max Mutzke, this German entry finished eight. In 2010, Raab was the jury president of the pre-selection process, dubbed Unser Star für Oslo; the eventual winner, Lena Meyer-Landrut, went on to win the contest proper with ‘Satellite’. The following year, Lena Meyer-Landrut again represented Germany, this time with a song produced by Raab, 'Taken By A Stranger'.

EUROVISION INVOLVEMENT YEAR BY YEAR

Country – United Germany
Song title – “Guildo hat Euch lieb”
Rendition – Guildo Horn & Die Orthopädischen Strümpfe (= Michael Kernbach / Rainer Kind / August Schrader / Albert Niesen / Michael Schneider)
Lyrics – Stefan Raab
Composition – Stefan Raab
Studio arrangement – Stefan Raab / Michael Holm
Live orchestration – none
"Conductor" – Stefan Raab
Score – 7th place (86 votes)

2000 Stockholm
Country – United Germany
Song title – “Wadde hadde dudde da?”
Rendition – Stefan Raab
Lyrics – Stefan Raab
Composition – Stefan Raab
Studio arrangement – Stefan Raab
Live orchestration – none
Conductor – none
Score – 5th place (96 votes)

2004 Istanbul
Country – United Germany
Song title – “Can’t Wait Until Tonight”
Rendition – Max Mutzke
Lyrics – Stefan Raab
Composition – Stefan Raab
Studio arrangement – Max Mutzke / Stefan Raab / The Heavytones (= Rüdiger Baldauf / Wolfgang Norman Dalheimer / Alfonso Garrido / Herbert Jösch / Niels Klein / Dominik Krämer / Philip Niessen / César Pérez)
Live orchestration – none
Conductor – none
Score – 8th place (93 votes)

2011 Düsseldorf
Country – United Germany
Song title – “Taken By A Stranger”
Rendition – Lena Meyer-Landrut
Lyrics – Gus Seyffert / Nicole Morier / Monica Birkenes
Composition – Gus Seyffert / Nicole Morier / Monica Birkenes
Studio arrangement – Stefan Raab / Reinhard Schraub
Live orchestration – none
Conductor – none
Score – 10th place (107 votes)

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